Mysterious death of aspiring author

LONDON: An aspiring author lay dead at home for four months while a letter from a publisher accepting her first novel sat unread on the doormat.

Former teacher Helen Gradwell was found dead in her Manchester home after neighbours raised the alarm.

After falling ill and being unable to carry on her job, she had quietly taken up writing and was heading towards being published for the first time when tragedy struck.

Now an inquest has heard it is likely the reclusive 39-year-old died four months before her body was discovered. Her two beloved pet dogs were found dead in the same room.

Gradwell was found face down and was badly decomposed. She was wearing pyjamas and it was thought she was sleeping on the sofa.

She suffered from “hemiplegic” migraines so severe they could cause temporary paralysis down one side of her body, and pathologist Jonathan Pearson said it was likely she had accidentally overdosed on painkillers.

He told the court the decomposition of her body made it difficult to be certain how she died, but there was no evidence of assault.

Toxicology tests also found high levels of the powerful pain medication in her body, he added. “It is the only evidence we have of something abnormal that could explain the sudden death.”

Gradwell had trained as a teacher but was forced to give up her full-time career when the migraines took hold. Instead, she began tutoring and secretly writing her novel.

She was unmarried and lived alone. Her family said she had distanced herself from them.

Chapters

After the inquest, her stepmother, Bronwen Gradwell, told the Bolton News Gradwell had sent a synopsis and the first three chapters of her book – which her family believe she completed – to a London publisher.

Bronwen Gradwell said: “We know it must be out there somewhere. We would love to publish it and donate the proceeds to animal charities … Animals meant everything to her.”

Assistant coroner Timothy Brennand recorded an open verdict saying there was no evidence to suggest she had meant to take her own life.

He said she had recently bought new clothes and had left no note – but what made him think her death was accidental was her welldocumented love of her dogs.

“To my mind, she would do nothing that would put the lives of her dogs in peril,” he concluded. – The Independent